Smartphones have a strong focus on media capabilities, especially mid-to-high-end models with gigabytes of storage. Every mobile OS comes preloaded with the media player. Windows Phones has a bit clunky Media Player that does the job. If you need a phone that doubles as a capable music player, you can’t go wrong with the Walkman-branded Sony Ericsson devices or the iPhone. The latter has great software iPod and mobile iTunes client that lets you browse, preview, and purchase songs, movies, TV shows, and podcasts directly on the device, over the cellular network. Android and Palm both focus more on online media, coupling their basic music player with an integrated Amazon MP3 client so you can buy songs over-the-air. Most phones do YouTube as well, either through a separate YouTube app (iPhone, Android) or via the mobile YouTube site.

Many phones have third-party apps that stream radio and music. Popular Spotify is currently available only on Android and iPhone. Both Apple and Microsoft will reportedly enable music streaming on their platforms via the iTunes Store and the Zune Marketplace. The iPhone has top-notch media capabilities, although BlackBerries handle media equally well and in some aspects even better than the iPhone. Nokia’s high-end camcorder have the best hardware-based content acquisition, especially for shooting near-DVD quality videos.

When considering your phone, don’t forget to ask if it has the voice notes app. Also check its content sharing features that are critical if you plan to share your stuff on social networks like Facebook or via MMS. Some people also want Bluetooth file transfer so they can wirelessly beam songs, images, contacts, videos, and other items to nearby phones. Not every phone that has Bluetooth supports file transfer in software. For example, the iPhone lacks this feature even though it has Bluetooth (Apple could enable the feature later via a firmware update).

The iPhone syncs exclusively with desktop iTunes, but there are third-party apps that let you manually copy files to and from your device. Palm’s Pre and Pixi also sync with iTunes by pretending to be an iPod, but each new iTunes update kills this feature. Syncing alternatives for Pre include the Mac-only Missing Sync for Pre ($39.95) and the doubleTwist (free) that syncs your media with hundreds of devices, including the Pre handset and the iPhone. Most phones, except Apple’s, support the USB Drive mode that reports the as an external Windows storage, allowing you to browse the phone’s file system, copy files to and from it, delete items, etc. The bottom line – any phone lets you load your media on it, but some do it more intuitively.

When evaluating your phone, consider the file formats support and capabilities of its built-in media player. Also pay attention to the phone’s music player, and check how it syncs content with your desktop. Many smartphones support a separate docking station that route audio and video to your TV and HiFi systems. If you plan to load your phone with lots of content, get a capacious enough memory card. If the phone doesn’t support memory cards (like the iPhone), better overestimate your storage needs because you’ll need to buy a higher-capacity model if you run out of space.

Smartphones have a strong focus on media capabilities, especially mid-to-high-end models with gigabytes of storage. Every mobile OS comes preloaded with the media player.

Windows Phones hava a slightly clunky Media Player that does the job. If you need a phone that doubles as a capable music player, you can’t go wrong with Walkman-branded Sony Ericsson devices or the iPhone. The latter is often billed as the best iPod and has a mobile iTunes client that lets you browse, preview, and purchase songs, movies, TV shows, and podcasts directly on the device, mostly over the cellular network. Android and Palm both focus more on online media, coupling their basic music player with an integrated Amazon MP3 client so you can buy songs over-the-air. Most phones do YouTube as well, either through a separate YouTube app (iPhone, Android) or via the mobile YouTube site.

Many phones have third-party apps that stream radio and music. Popular app Spotify is currently available only on Android and iPhone in Europe. Both Apple and Microsoft will reportedly enable music streaming on their platforms via the iTunes Store and the Zune Marketplace. The iPhone has top-notch media capabilities, although BlackBerries handle media equally well and in some aspects even better than the iPhone. Nokia’s high-end models have the best hardware-based content acquisition, especially for shooting near-DVD quality videos.

When considering your phone, don’t forget to ask if it has the voice notes app. Also check its content sharing features that are critical if you plan to share your stuff on social networks like Facebook or via MMS. Some people also want Bluetooth file transfer so they can wirelessly beam songs, images, contacts, videos, and other items to nearby phones. Not every phone that has Bluetooth supports file transfer in software. For example, the iPhone lacks this feature even though it has Bluetooth (Apple could enable the feature later via a firmware update).

The iPhone syncs exclusively with desktop iTunes, but there are third-party apps that let you manually copy files to and from your device. Palm’s Pre and Pixi also sync with iTunes by pretending to be an iPod, but each new iTunes update kills this feature. Syncing alternatives for Pre include the Mac-only Missing Sync for Pre ($39.95) and the doubleTwist (free) that syncs your media with hundreds of devices, including the Pre handset and the iPhone. Most phones, except Apple’s, support the USB Drive mode as an external Windows storage, allowing you to browse the phone’s file system, copy files to and from it, delete items, etc. The bottom line – any phone lets you load your media on it, but some do it more intuitively.

When evaluating your phone, consider the file formats support and capabilities of its built-in media player. Also pay attention to the phone’s music player, and check how it syncs content with your desktop. Many smartphones support a separate docking station that route audio and video to your TV and HiFi systems. If you plan to load your phone with lots of content, get a capacious enough memory card. If the phone doesn’t support memory cards (like the iPhone), you’d better overestimate your storage needs because you’ll need to buy a higher-capacity model if you run out of space.